


A Proper Hello

by mrv3000



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-02
Updated: 2008-12-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrv3000/pseuds/mrv3000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose experience another separation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Proper Hello

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Goldy for betaing!

"Oh come on!"

"Sir, step away from the door!"

The hotel security guard -- the _big_ security guard -- glared at the Doctor. The Doctor quickly ran through his options, most of which seemed to involve him being slammed against something (the wall, the door, the floor, his own legs), and he decided to go with the option that had the least probability of slamming: he stepped away from the door and faced the guard in the corridor. The guard's eyes flicked to the Doctor's hand.

"Drop the weapon!"

"Do I have to? I hate recalibrating it when I do. How about I switch it off? Harmless, see?" The Doctor pushed the sonic screwdriver off, and quickly pocketed it. "There. No one gets hurt and I don't have to recalibrate anything. Wins all around, I'd say."

"What _was_ that?"

"Torch."

The answer did nothing to stop the guard from glaring. Most likely he was still mentally debating which surface to throw the Doctor against.

"Look, can we just knock on the door? The person inside will tell you exactly who I am and that I belong in there. We're sort of, well, you know... Together. Together together. Together in every way except for right this second, which is a long story. Oh! I work for Torchwood," the Doctor said, the words 'work for Torchwood' still feeling like a really weird thing for him to be saying. "Everyone knows Torchwood, right? Good guys? Saved the universe again and again and again? In fact, I believe they just finished up a job here tonight."

The guard looked skeptical, but knocked on the door, not taking his eyes off the Doctor. They waited.

"Probably trying to find a dressing gown," the Doctor commented. "Little pink shorts aren't exactly the best to answer the door in."

Finally they heard movement and the door swung open. Pete Tyler blinked at them.

"Pete? Pete! Oh, Pete! My buddy! My pal! My compadre!"

"Your boss?" Pete suggested.

"Let's not get carried away."

"What's going on here?" Pete asked, eyes going to the guard.

In return, the guard eyed Pete's dressing gown. "Caught him prowling around here, sir. Trying to break into your room. Knew Torchwood personnel were on this floor and so I've been keeping an eye out."

"Doctor, aren't you supposed to be working on the..." Pete shot the guard another glance. "...thing?"

"Finished with the thing."

"Wasn't that going to take days?"

"Well, you know. Genius and all that. Things went faster after I locked everyone else out of the lab. So I decided why not a quick drive to Cardiff? 3 a.m., isn't it? I made great time!"

Pete groaned. "Which car of mine did you steal?"

"Steal? Such an ugly word. I _borrowed_ a car that was just sitting around, completely unused. The Aston Martin, I think. Gears are a bit rubbish, though. Always making noise when you shift. You ever notice that?"

Pete groaned again.

The guard cleared his throat. "How's about you two gentlemen take it inside? You can argue in there. Or..." his eyes flicked between Pete and the Doctor. "...whatever."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh no no no no no no no no! I wasn't trying to break into... I mean, _let myself_ into _his_ room. Nice enough chap, but not quite the pink shorts-wearing type. Although who knows what you get up to with Jackie. And that wasn't an invitation to expound on that subject, just so we're clear."

"Then what...?" the guard asked.

"He stole my car so he could sleep with my daughter." Pete's words dropped like a lead balloon. An awkward silence hung in the air as the guard raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"She and I switched rooms. Busted TV. Number 116," Pete said dryly, letting the Doctor off any paternal-guilt, employer-guilt, or car-owner-guilt hooks. For now.

"Right! 116! Ta!" the Doctor declared, sprinting away from the men.

"How'd you know which room she was in in the first place?" Pete called after him.

The Doctor simply waved without turning back and ran on, deciding 'remote computer hacking using Torchwood equipment' wasn't the best subject to bring up at that moment.

Rounding a hallway corner, he nearly ran past the room. He sonicked the door lock and let himself inside, bolting the door behind him. The lump in the bed stirred, but then was still.

The Doctor sighed. Sure he could have just waited for Rose to come home tomorrow... Well, _today_ considering it was the wee hours of the morning already. But two days apart had been _plenty_ already.

It was supposed to be a day trip for Torchwood. There was a high-profile incident in Cardiff involving a dignitary needing some hand-holding after an encounter with a few alien...well, hedgehogs. Ones that had already left Earth, according to their monitoring equipment. So all that was left was the hand-holding. The Doctor had little interest in holding some dignitary's hand, so he opted to stay and work on the transducer manipulator while Pete, Rose and a handfull of others drove off. After all, it was _supposed_ to be just for the day.

But things had gotten out of hand when the encounteree had called a press conference. And even though the hedgehogs were long gone in their small ships, the press took the fact that both well-known Tylers were there as a sign of impending doom by tiny grub-eaters. The only way to calm public fears was to ride around in giant SUVs for a couple of days, appearing to keep the world safe from a hedgehog invasion while actually doing crossword puzzles.

In the dark hotel room, the Doctor kicked off his shoes and flung his jacket on the back of a chair.

The Doctor thought he'd dealt with it well when Rose told him she wouldn't be coming back that first night. He thought he'd dealt with it well when Pete asked him to stay away since the appearance of more Torchwood employees would probably only cause panic. And he thought he'd dealt with it well when Jackie turned up unannounced to make sure he was eating.

He'd dealt with everything _wonderfully_... Right up until Rose had told him 'good night' over the phone for the _second time_ a few hours ago.

Enough was enough.

The Doctor quietly climbed into bed. He draped his arm across her, which...something was odd.

"AAAAHHH!!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

The Doctor flailed and flopped backwards, landing on the floor. Someone crashed about and finally a light snapped on.

"Doctor?!"

"Jake?!"

"What the hell?!"

"Totally apt!"

They blinked at each other.

"You're not Rose!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Figured that out, did you?"

The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face. "Don't tell me you two switched rooms too. It's musical rooms around here."

"What?" Jake looked confused.

"Rose switched with Pete. Pete told me Rose was in 116, which is why..." the Doctor waved his hand towards the bed.

"Yeah. Um, this is 115. She's across the hall."

The Doctor stared unbelievingly at Jake before leaping up and pulling open the door. At first glance the style of print did make the 5 look like a 6, but the 6 across the hall was definitely more 6-ish.

"Right! Well! No sense taking up any more of your time," the Doctor said, jumping into his trousers and gathering up the rest of his clothes. "Always good to see you, Jake. Although I'd like to say how glad I am you don't sleep in the nude."

"Right back atcha."

The door was quickly shut behind him and a few moments later the Doctor had made his way into 116. Most definitely positively absolutely 116.

Probably.

The Doctor used the light from the sonic screwdriver to make sure that Rose was in the bed this time. Seeing her face in the blue glow, his heart skipped a beat. 43 hours, 35 minutes and 8.5 seconds had been _way_ too much time apart.

This time when he climbed into bed, Rose automatically rolled against him, letting him get plenty of body surface area with his arms. He let his lips linger against her hairline.

"Mmmm," Rose murmured, finding a comfortable and familiar position. But after a few seconds she stirred from sleep, her brain obviously finally processing the situation. "Wha..? Doctor?" she asked softly.

"Sorry," he whispered back. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was out for a stroll and happened by this place."

"Out for a stroll to Cardiff. Mmm hmmm. Missed you," she whispered against him.

"Missed you too."

"Expect a lecture from Dad though."

"Ooh, you've no idea how much that's a certainty. Just tell me that coming out here was a good thing. You know, as strength to get through it."

"A very good thing." Rose wrestled an arm free and grabbed at the back of his head, holding him in place for a kiss. As if he had to be held in place for that. Or for the other kisses that followed.

It was the Doctor's turn to 'mmmmm.' "This...this was _so_ worth getting into bed with Jake and almost getting into bed with Pete for."

"Um..."

"Right, that sorta came out wrong."

"Yeah, I really hope so," Rose said.

"Tell you later? Right now I'm more interested in a proper hello."

"Later's good." Rose's fingers played with the ends of his hair. "Hello," she said, a grin in her voice.

Her lips were on his again before he was able to say it back, which might or might not have disqualified it as a proper hello. But he quickly decided that later was also a good time to figure that out.

Much later.


End file.
